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Crystal Cave
The Crystal Cave[http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffdegeoff/9905205435/sizes/o/in/photostream/ The Making of Harry Potter] was a cave found in a very steep mountainside, used by Lord Voldemort to hide one of his many Horcruxes. The cavern was extremely large, so much so that the ceiling was out of sight, as were the banks of the lake opposite the entrance - Chapter 26 (The Cave). The wall is made of rough stone, and most of the cave is filled with an eerily black lake, illuminated by the frightening greenish glow of the Drink of Despair, which sits in a stone basin on the Crystal Cave Island. The cave is entirely dark except the glow of the potion, with a blackness that was deeper and darker than normal darkness. History Lord Voldemort found this cavern whilst on a summer outing to a quiet seaside town with his orphanage, led by Amelda Cole, and it was inside here that he tortured Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop - Chapter 13 (The Secret Riddle). Later, Voldemort would use this cave as the hiding place for one of his Horcruxes, guarded by the undead minions known as Inferi, which he kept in a black lake. The Inferi would attack anyone who touched the water, and thus it was necessary for him to create the Crystal Boat, which would carry one overage wizard to the Crystal Cave Island. He placed the Drink of Despair in a stone basin on the island, hid the Horcrux within the acidic and torturous potion and then departed, sure that his Horcrux would be safe. A mysterious wizard called R. A. B. would later infiltrate the cave, stealing the locket and replacing it with a fake should Voldemort ever return. This mysterious wizard was, in reality, Regulus Arcturus Black, a former Death Eater who turned against the Dark Lord when he learned of his master's hardheartedness, ruthlessness and determination - Chapter 10 (Kreacher's Tale). Regulus had his house-elf, Kreacher, accompany him; Regulus drank the potion, growing increasingly ill, and then forced Kreacher to put the fake locket inside. The potion refilled itself, and Kreacher tried desperately to get his master water, despite Regulus's instructions to return back to Grimmauld Place and pretend nothing had happened. Kreacher was nearly killed by the Inferi, but followed his master's orders, disappearing from the cave and abandoning his master, an act that would devastate him forevermore. Albus Dumbledore later began hunting Voldemort's Horcruxes, and tracked the locket down to the cave. He invited Harry Potter along with him on the condition that Harry do whatever asked regardless of how revolting, twisted or horrible it might seem. Harry reluctantly agreed and the two set out under cover of darkness, unknowingly to Dumbledore's death, and with no prior warning that the true locket had been hidden in Grimmauld Place by Kreacher so many years before. They arrived at the cave, and after Dumbledore slit his wrist to let them in, then pulled up the invisible boat and sailed them across to the island, began to examine the potion. Dumbledore conjured the Crystal Goblet to drink the potion despite Harry's insistence otherwise, and then began to drink, slowly falling to the floor of the island, crippled and weak, driven mad by visions of his sister, brother and lover being tortured. Harry was forced to poison his mentor, retrieved the fake locket and was nearly drowned by the Inferi gathering water for Dumbledore, who saved Harry with the Firestorm. Appearances *''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' *''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)'' *''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' *''Harry Potter and the Deathly Halllows: Part 1'' *''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2'' Notes and references Category:Horcruxes